The traditional gleaning model used by boston area gleaners has been successful at reducing on-farm food waste, but is limited by its reactive nature and its reliance upon farmers continuing to…

Boston Area Gleaners Inc. received a $564,801 Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service under the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program (FMLFPP) to operate its Boston Food Hub program from September 30, 2021 to September 29, 2024.

The Boston Food Hub program aggregates and markets surplus produce and other agricultural products from regional farms in Eastern Massachusetts that would otherwise go to waste, to increase sales opportunities for farmers and make more local food available to consumers. Specific goals include increasing customers by 97% and sales of local products by 116%, helping 71 farms increase revenue, and maintaining or creating seven jobs. The program aims to move 1.1 million additional pounds of local produce from farms to consumers over the award period, with an emphasis on serving low-income and low-access communities.

The traditional gleaning model used by boston area gleaners has been successful at reducing on-farm food waste, but is limited by its reactive nature and its reliance upon farmers continuing to subsidize the hunger- relief sector through donation. Our boston food hub program, started in 2018, is designed to support our regional farms by activating an in-depth aggregation, distribution, storage, and marketing model that focuses on system-wide creative solutions that prioritize the economic resilience of our regional farms. This food hub is unique in that we source and market surplus produce that growers cannot sell, otherwise known as on-farm food waste. Our current focus is to increase sales through properly staffing our sales and operations teams. This project aims to: cultivate and facilitate regional food chain coordination in rural and urban eastern massachusetts, create new business opportunities for growers that reduce on-farm food waste, and increase local food availability and access for consumer-serving local and regional food business enterprises. We intend to reach 61 project beneficiaries who produce and/or utilize locally produced agricultural products. Boston food hub aims to increase customers by 97% and sales of local and regional products by 116%. 71 farms will report an increase in revenue, and seven jobs will be maintained or created. Importantly, boston food hub will increase the volumes of fresh, local produce moving from regional farms to consumers by 1,100,000 pounds over the project period, emphasizing service to low income and low access consumer- facing food business enterprises in eastern massachusetts.